I'm thinking photographically. I am thinking in terms of what I could do that would be fun and would also involve my camera and, in turn, lead to a blog. Hahaha, I know!! You're sitting there thinking, "Duh! You do that all the time, Bozo!"
Well, now it's becoming a bit more pronounced. Now I am beginning to plan trips exclusively for the opportunity I might have to exercise my camera and to be able to concentrate on a particular subject. Hahaha, I said 'trips' but, in truth, this was the first time I set out with the idea of going someplace exclusively for the purpose of shooting a definite subject. And it was fun.
Hahaha, isn't that the whole thing? Have a purpose and have some fun? And it worked. Oh, and it wasn't all about me (although I am sorta like that, a lot). I gave a thought to Carol and what she would like to do as well. I know how much she enjoys walking the beaches and exploring for treasures and as I thought about the idea for my photo essay, I also considered what she could do. I realize it gets old following someone around who is constantly stopping here and going there with his camera. Not too much fun.
So I hit on the idea of shooting the Yaquina Bay Bridge and maybe going up to see the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse later if I wanted to. And, while I was thusly engaged, Carol could hit the beach and search to her heart's content for treasures.
A win-win, right!?!
You betcha.
You betcha.
And so we took off.
If I can take a little side trip here, I'll explain the quotes you'll see throughout this blog. Whenever I start a blog the first challenge for me is to find a title for it that is, hopefully, sometimes, humorous and fits the subject of the blog and that strikes a chord with both the reader and me.
To get a title, to get something that I can play off of for the title, I look around the 'Net for inspiration. A lot of times I'll go to songs and song titles looking for something I can use and other times I will google an idea for quotes. Like today. I knew I was shooting a bridge and so I googled "Bridge Quotes" and found some that I liked.
This one struck me and so I fitted it in for a Blog Title:
"Fear builds walls instead of bridges.
I want a life of bridges, not walls."
I want a life of bridges, not walls."
- Lisa Wingate, The Prayer Box
Oh, to be sure, I found a number of them that I liked. But I picked Lisa's for the title...it said something to me (Plus, to be honest, it makes me look deep and thoughtful and, in that department, I can use all the help I can get!!) and so...there it is. Hahaha, part of it, at least.
While I had the one I wanted, I kept on reading for fun and found some other quotes that interested me and so I thought I'd sprinkle them at random in this blog. Hahaha, who knows, maybe someone will think I'm a bit more intelligent than I really am. Hey!! It could happen!!
So, there it is. Oh, one more thing. This was the alternate title I was considering..."It's a Photo Essay, Essay!!" Hahaha, I know!! Lame. Now you know why I googled quotes.
We were on the road and soon we were at Yaquina Bay State Park. They have the lighthouse and the beach at this park for Carol. For me, it was a short walk to the north end of the bridge.
As I walked towards the bridge from where we parked, the first thing I came to was this Fisherman's Memorial Sanctuary. I sometimes forget that this area has a rich fishing tradition. Before these modern times and the advent of mass tourism, one of the main sources of jobs and money in this part of the world was fishing. You don't see it so much now because the population has grown so much and the fishing community has shrunk.
Every-so-often, though, you run into reminders, like this.
And I am also reminded that while I ooh and aah at the ocean, it is still a dangerous place to be.
These memorials are important to the folks that have lost someone. Carol noticed that when we encounter these memorials for someone lost at sea the objects, the things they leave here in their memory seem to deal with the sea in some fashion. Unlike memorials you see inland, where they leave stuffed animals or candles, here they tend towards nautical mementos.
And when someone passes, they leave a hole in their loved one's lives that they have to learn to live with.
After a moment reflecting, I was on my way to the bridge.
And a shot looking back towards The Faithful Mini. Hahaha, it's there, trust me.
Across the beach is the entry to the bay. From this point you can get a good view of the jetties that define the entrance to Yaquina Bay.
Fun Facts: These two jetties are one of the oldest navigation projects created by the Army Corps of Engineers on the Oregon Coast. The north jetty was constructed from 1889 to 1896 to a length of 7,000 feet. It's been extended several times since. The south jetty was completed in 1896 also and was extended once, in 1972.
They make a difference coming into the Bay, that's for sure.
Ah, the Lighthouse...the maybe, haunted lighthouse. Hahaha, let's learn something, Okay?
Fun Facts: This lighthouse was first lit on November 3, 1871. Unfortunately, it was only active for three years. It was a good idea but a bad location. What they did was build another light a bit further up the coast. This new light was able to reach farther out to sea and was a better aid to navigation.
So the Yaquina Bay Light was decommissioned on October 1, 1874, only three years after it started because the new Yaquina Head Light made it obsolete. The fifth order Fresnel lens that it had used was moved to the Yerba Buena Light for its opening in 1875.
I've written about this light in prior blogs so I won't go into much more here. But later on I will, as a special treat, tell you a bit about why folks around here say the lighthouse is haunted.
I was after bigger prey...The Yaquina Bay Bridge.
And there she is.
Fun Facts: Work on the Yaquina Bay Bridge was begun on August 1, 1934 and the bridge was opened for traffic on September 6, 1936. It took 220 men pouring 30,000 cubic yards of concrete and 3,100 tons of steel to create this span.
Quick aside, knowing modern government, do you think they'd be able to build a bridge this size in just the 25 months it took those men to erect this beauty?
More Fun Facts: The 600-foot main span is a semi-through arch. It's has identical 350-foot steel deck arches at either end, with five concrete deck arches of diminishing size extending to the south landing. The two-lane road is just 27 feet wide and they have a 3.5 foot sidewalk on either side.
The main arch is 246 feet above sea level at its crown. Overall the bridge is 3,260 feet long which includes the concrete deck-girder approach spans. It has a 400 foot wide by 133 foot high navigable channel entering into the Bay.
"A bridge has no allegiance to either side."
- Les Coleman
Here's the bridge looking east from Yaquina Bay State Park. The bay and the marina are visible here. In the background is the Yaquina River. If you travel up the river, you'll come to the city of Toledo.
And, right there in the estuary leading into the bay were these kayakers, kayaking in their kayaks, 'Kay. I don't know what they were doing but they were kitted up and obviously together as they paddled their....kayaks around the inlet.
When I first saw this picture, my thought was, Money, money, money!! then, of course, the next thought that popped into my head was the Theme Song from Gilligan's Island...and now it's in yours.
You're welcome.
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of a fateful trip
That started from this tropic port
Aboard this tiny ship
The mate was a mighty sailor man
The Skipper brave and sure.
Five passengers set sail that day
For a three-hour tour, a three-hour tour.
Hahaha, that's enough. My work here is done.
I was on the north side of the bridge and so all my views are from north to south and from, mostly, west to east.
Fun Facts: This bridge is one of the most recognizable of the U.S. Route 101 bridges designed by Conde McCullough. It's one of the eleven major bridges on the Oregon Coast Highway designed by McCullough and when it was built, it replaced the last ferry crossing left along The 101.
Fun Facts: This guy, McCullough, was quite an interesting fellow.
Born in South Dakota, he graduated from Iowa State with a civil engineering degree in 1910. McCullough began working for a bridge company in Des Moines. He worked there one year and then went to work for the Iowa State Highway Commission.
Conde moved to Oregon in 1916 and became an assistant professor of Civil engineering at Oregon Agricultural College and the sole structural engineering professor at the school. He then became head of the Bridge Division of the ODOT in 1919. In this position, he was personally responsible for the design of Oregon's bridges at a time when the state was completing The 101.
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| The Net |
More Fun Facts: McCullough's designs are well known for their architectural beauty. He believed that bridges should be built economically, efficiently and with great beauty.
He helped design over 600 bridges, many with architectural details such as Gothic spires, art deco obelisks and Romanesque arches incorporated into the bridges. In 1928, he graduated from Willamette University College of Law and passed the bar the same year. In 1935, he moved to San Jose, Costa Rica to help design bridges on the Pan-American Highway. He returned to Oregon in 1937 to become the Assistant State Highway Engineer.
"The fate of bridges is to be lonely;
because bridges are to cross not to stay!"
because bridges are to cross not to stay!"
- Mehmet Murat ildan
OK, for the next six or so pictures, I got all artsy-fartsy. Hahaha, I knew I would.
I have an affection for patterns, shapes and shadows. Had I been a movie cinematographer during the 40s and 50s I would have been heavy into film noir movies.
I do like me some B&W. If only I were proficient in it. But, hey!! I'm a-workin' on it.
At either end and on either side of the bridge they have these art deco steps leading up from the park to the bridge and as soon as I saw it, I knew it would be a good subject for some B&W.
Hahaha, I also love me some Polarizing Filters. Really puts some punch into the sky.
Looking from the west side of the bridge towards the bay. And the clouds. All in all, it was a nice morning but the afternoon would get overcast.
Naturally I walked under the bridge and, just as naturally, I tried to catch the patterns formed by the piers supporting the span. I almost got it. I like how the concrete piers look like a cathedral. We saw something like this under the Fremont Bridge in Seattle. That was where we saw the Fremont Bridge Troll.
These are the stairs on the east side of the bridge. They are simple but it is obvious they put some creative thought into these functional structures.
And on the east side, I found some trees and...
...some European Starlings.
And I actually got a couple to hold still long enough for Slow Poke Jackie, to get his camera on'em.
"A girl without braids is like a city without bridges."
- Roman Payne, The Wanderess
Hahaha, I can't explain why that quote caught my fancy but, obviously, it did. It's a good analogy...I can see both of the examples. Hopefully it fits into the novel better. The Wanderess is, "A gothic mystery novel and story of passion and romance set against the backdrop of a timeless Mediterranean landscape."
Just in case you were wondering.
Just in case you were wondering.
I can see a bit of the Gothic here in this bridge.
More of my B&W.
Someday I will get a good one. Someday.
Stay with me!!
And, on my way back, looking down, I saw these. An open and shut picture.
They saved this tree by putting the road into and out of the park on either side of it.
Nicely done, Park Peoples.
The Haunted House that is the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse.
Hahaha, maybe. Here's what I found....
Fun Facts: "Situated at Yaquina, on the coast of Oregon, is an old, deserted lighthouse. It stands upon a promontory that juts out dividing the bay from the ocean, and is exposed to every wind that blows. Its weather-beaten walls are wrapped in mystery. On an afternoon when the fog comes drifting in from the sea and completely envelopes the lighthouse, and then stops in its course as if its object had been attained, it is the loneliest place in the world."
So begins Lischen Miller's story, "The Haunted Lighthouse," published in an 1899 issue of Pacific Monthly. Though a fictional account of a girl named Muriel Trevenard, who mysteriously disappeared in the lighthouse after returning to retrieve her handkerchief. The tale has led to a persistent belief that the place is -gasp- haunted.
And a little detail shot. That's another thing I like about older architecture, the symmetry they achieved in nearly every building they created.
Hahaha, like B&W, I likes me some symmetry, too.
And one final look back at the beach and the entrance to the Bay. All told, I was gone for maybe 45 minutes. Someday, when I grow up and get serious, I might even expend a whole hour on a photo project. Someday, but I'm not holding my breath.
And that was that for the bridge. And for me.
While I was out cavorting around the bridge, Carol headed to the beach. I expected to come back and join her on the beach (thank heavens for cell phones and their amazing portability). Imagine my surprise then, when I saw her perched on a picnic table patiently waiting for me. Seems there was a rather sizable fishing boat that had sunk near the coast here recently and the beach was polluted with the diesel that leaked out of it.
So, disappointed and not wanting to stay along the beach, she cut her excursion short.
Now, here are her pictures and story...
Carol's Story
Jack had told me he'd be off taking pictures of the bridge and so I headed toward the beach. I was hoping to find treasures...that's what I think of as fun.
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| CB |
I really like beach grass and, set against the blue sky, I thought it made for a pretty picture.
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| CB |
It's a large and hilly beach. It was hard and wet from the recent rain.
Unfortunately, I didn't find any treasures but I did find a lot of trash left by the people who'd been there earlier.
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| CB |
When I got to the water it was covered in brown sludge; it looked like chocolate pudding. I couldn't pick anything up because it was covered in filth.
I saw a bunch of dead birds and large jellyfish washed up on the shore. The place smelled like a sewer. Everything was nasty.
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| CB |
So I headed back up to where we were parked.
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| CB |
It really is a nice looking beach, but it wasn't a place for me today. Maybe I'll come back but today I didn't want to be there.
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| CB |
Hahaha, I got this picture of Smilin' Jack just before I went down. You know, in case I had to do a 'Missing Child' report. I could use this to show what he'd been wearing.
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| CB |
Hahaha, nice one, Carol.
OK, I'm back. I now have control.
Now I had two choices. I could either drive back up The 101 or....drum roll....I could drive back a different way. Now, folks, that's not as easy as it sounds. There's not too many roads through the Central Oregon Coast and the ones that are there are few and far apart. In other words, if you don't go back on The 101, you are gonna take a long trip around.
And that's what I opted for. I took off on 20 and headed east. It would have been a 27-mile trip if I'd headed back on The 101. Taking the different route it was 115 miles back. See what I mean about the roads here being few and far between...
OK, OK, I had an ulterior motive as well as wanting to see some new country. I discovered (and how I missed this before I'll never know!!) that there is another Walmart there in Dallas, Oregon.
I mean, c'mon, Man!! Wha....!?!?!
And so I thought it'd be semi-fun to motor on by the new Wally on the way home. And so we set off on a new semi-adventure. And ran into some rain. Which is, y'know, a good thing these days. In fact, we've been getting some rain the past few days and that is a very, very good thing.
I do like me some open road...and getting pictures of same. And with these pictures it's always a hit and miss thing whether I will get anything worthwhile but it's always fun trying and then seeing what comes out at the end of the day.
Someday, (there's that wistful sigh again) I just might try and put together some kind of a book; maybe call it, On the Road. Hey, that just might be my title!! Woo, woo!! I'm half-way there!!
And, again, I do love driving the Oregon highways. Even when it's boring it's good. And the countryside changed dramatically as we moved away from the coast.
On the road again,
Just can't wait to get on the road again
The life I love is makin' music with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again.
And then we rounded the curve and there was this happy surprise.
Fun Facts: During the early part of the 20th Century there were 450 covered bridges built in Oregon. There are 50 of them left scattered throughout the state. With more remaining covered bridges than any other state along the West Coast, Oregon's landmark bridges offer everyone a look at a well-preserved past.
This is the second covered bridge we've seen here. The other one is the Drift Creek Covered Bridge that is about 12 miles from where we live.
This is the Ritner Creek Bridge. Built in 1926 for just under $7,000. It was renovated and moved to its current location in 1976.
Ritner Creek, which necessitated the building of the bridge in the first place, is still flowing along.
Ritner Creek Bridge was named for a pioneer, Sebastian Ritner, who arrived in Oregon in 1845. Some of his descendants still live in the area.
I'm sure it is due to the shape of the windows, but I got the feeling of being in a church, a cathedral while I was there.
Hahaha, I'm pretty sure when they first built this bridge that it didn't have any safety railing along the sides. Well, we moderns may be smarter in a lot of ways the Oldies weren't, but they had a lot more common sense and self-discipline than we do these days.
There was a small path leading off to the side of the bridge and so I thought I'd give'er a look-see.
And I did.
And I found the origin of Ritner Creek. It branches off the Little Luckiamute River.
Whoda thunk!?! I bumped into the Little Luckiamute River!!
As you look at this picture you can see where Ritner Creek starts its trail just a bit left of center.
Having fun with this, I turned and went further back along this trail and....
....walked along the Little Luckiamute River for a while.
Not exactly a raging river, but it does what it's supposed to do, river along getting things wet as it goes.
Soon enough, we were back on the road. And, once again, it's a beautiful drive. And, of course, we were headed to Dallas (Oregon), and the Wally they have there. Just to, y'know, check it out, y'all.
And the clouds closed in again but that's OK. We need us some precip.
And then we were there...at the Walmart in Dallas.
It's not a Supercenter...they don't have much going on in the food department. But in every other regard it is a true Wally.
We weren't in maybe 3 minutes when we heard screaming...a frantic mother had misplaced her son. All was well though as she eventually found the young boy. Thank goodness. I may sound like I'm being a little flippant here but, I assure you, we were as concerned as she was and even got her to tell us what he was wearing so we could be on the lookout for him.
And while we were looking I was aware that EVERY Wally employee that was available was moving up and down aisles looking for Ol' Jesse. Hahaha, I bet that's the last time that boy wanders for a long, long time.
Well, we made it home in time to go in, grab our Scout stuff and head out to a Committee meeting. I had forgotten about it but Carol reminded me in time. Duh!!
It was a good day. It's a shame about the beach but I'm sure there are already plans in place to clean it up. Accidents happen.
We accomplished our goals...mostly. I got to concentrate on the bridge and Carol got to see the beach, such as it was. Then we got the surprise of the covered bridge and, finally, another Wally.
We're simple folks.
And life is good.
Hooah!!
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